8 Responses

Is it mostly the function buttons?, Do they have the same features otherwise? Considerable price difference, is it worth the difference. What can the zumo do that the nuvi cannot?
Thanks!

John - September 22nd, 2009

The Garmin Zumo GPS’s are designed for motorcycles.

Ray - November 27th, 2009

John, the differences would be easier to point out if we knew what you were looking to use the device for. Otherwise we could spend a bunch of time listing out features that don’t make a difference to you and might skip pointing out differences that are important to you.

The Zumo devices are designed with plastics that are more UV resistant and the screen is designed to be more friendly when wearing gloves. The Nuvi has a longer battery life and is lighter. The Zumo can save more custom routes. The Zumo uses SD cards while the Nuvi uses microSD cards. The Zumo has Bluetooth. The Nuvi uses MSN Direct traffic (to be discontinued in 2012) while the Zumo uses XM traffic. The Zumo doesn’t have a “where am i?” feature nor speed limit information. You can do geocaching and other off-road type things on the Nuvi while the Zumo has an MP3 player.

Tim - November 27th, 2009

That’s a stupid response. I posted an honest question hoping for an honest and intelligent response. Why waste my time and yours with a response like that? If you don’t know anything about how to answer the question, don’t bother. Hopefully someone on this forum actually knows something about these two GPS units.

John - November 27th, 2009

Thank you for your informative response Tim. That is what I needed to help with my decision.
I want to use it on a motorcycle as well as in the car. (2009 Harley Ultra)
Many people use this nuvi on motorcycles as it is water proof. Because of the tremendous price difference, I wanted to determine if I could do without the specific motorcycle features of the zumo. It seems to me, the nuvi can pretty much do what the zumo can do but is lacking blue tooth and a speaker connection.
I imagine someone can help me add a 3.5 connection so I can connect the nuvi to the auxilary port on my Harley Ultra. I will do some more research on both.

I have also head rumor that garmin will be coming out with a new version of the zumo. When this happens, it would probably drop the price of the zumo 550 and 660 considerably.

Isn’t the \where am I\ feature the one that finds police/hospitals as well as marking your current location so you can go back to it? Seems like a nice feature to have. I don’t care about the traffic or xm radio that much, nice features but not to important to me. The blue tooth to phone is not that important either. Not that interested in talking on the phone while I ride. I check for messages/voice mail at stops

I currently have a Quest 2 and am familiar with its features. It seems there is no one solution for everyone and the wide selection of gps from garmin as well as others makes choices somewhat difficult and confusing. This is a great forum for learning more about gps!
Again, thanks for your help/info Tim. This is the kind of feedback I had hoped for. Any other advice/observations from you would be appreciated.

John

John - November 27th, 2009

Can additional routes be stored on the M-SD Card? Thanks DRCDAC

Donald - January 17th, 2010

Howdy! My wife and I would like to take our boat (18ft runabout) onto the Sacramento, CA river delta. We don’t want to get lost, as there are many turns, bends, and tributaries. Thinking of the Garmin nuvi 550 or the Garmin Oregon 200. Any ideas as to what would be best for us? thanks for your time and help.

Mark - January 17th, 2011

I used a Garmin Nuvi 550 on my motorcycles for ~12,000 miles and it worked just fine (until it was stolen).
Two modifications have made my Garmins more Moto-friendly for both my 550 and my beloved 2610 Street Pilot:
1. Add a dot of Goop or ShooGoo on the index fingers of your gloves. That gives you a smaller, more precise contact point for when you are poking on the go (Yeah I know, I know).
2. Construct a sun shield out of plastic report cover and double stick Velcro. You can make a far better and more versatile sun shield that the commercially available ones. And even more colorful –but– a dark inner side is best.